U.S. District Court Judge Kate M. Menendez probably played a lot of “Cops and Robbers” when she was a kid. My guess is that the big kids made her play the “Robber” most of the time.
Menendez’s frustration with not being able to play copper as a child might be the only explanation for an incomprehensibly narrow ruling she issued on Friday that micromanages the federal law enforcement response to protests at the cellular level.
“Judge Kate M. Menendez ordered agents not to retaliate against people ‘engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,’ and not to use pepper spray or other ‘crowd dispersal tools’ in retaliation for protected speech,” the New York Times wrote.
If she wants that badly to play cop, someone should give her a badge and stick her on the front lines of law enforcement, facing hundreds of screaming, spitting maniacs calling for her blood.
This ruling isn’t designed to keep the peace. It’s designed to threaten ICE agents with mob violence by preempting law enforcement crowd control tactics and allowing protesters to intimidate agents.
It’s a ruling that will so hamstring law enforcement that it may force ICE to retreat, which is exactly what it’s designed to do.
“D.H.S. is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
Judge Menendez, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., clarified in her order that “the court’s injunction does nothing to prevent defendants from continuing to enforce immigration laws.” The injunction did not include explicit protections for recording of agents or other provisions sought by the plaintiffs.
The case is the latest in a series of legal challenges across the country, including in California, Illinois and Washington, D.C., where civil and immigrant rights organizations have sought to curb the tactics of federal agents.
In Illinois, where immigration agents amassed for several weeks last year, a federal judge issued a sweeping injunction that placed several limits on how agents could use force and interact with protesters. An appellate court later blocked that ruling, calling it too broad and too prescriptive.
Lawyers for the ACLU and other activist law firms claimed that ICE agents were using “excessive force,” violating their constitutional rights. They claimed that agents had “intimidated, harassed or arrested protesters,” who had not done anything to interfere with ICE operations, according to the Times.
The Trump administration disagreed, saying that it “would place this court in the business of micromanaging D.H.S. officers’ conduct throughout Minnesota.” Exactly right.
Menendez said the agents would not be allowed to arrest people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion the person has committed a crime or was obstructing or interfering with the activities of officers.
The plaintiffs include longtime Minneapolis resident Susan Tincher, Somali American U.S. citizen Abdikadir Noor, and others who allege they were arrested, detained, threatened at gunpoint, or sprayed with chemical irritants while engaging in lawful observation and protest.
The ruling is so broadly drawn that it makes law enforcement’s job of crowd control in Minnesota impossible. But that’s the point, isn’t it?
The administration is certain to appeal this ludicrous decision, and will probably prevail. Meanwhile, Judge Menendez apparently got to live out her lifelong dream of playing the cop.
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